The Hindu : National : Shia community in ferment over new Personal Law Board

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Monday, Jan 31, 2005

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National

Shia community in ferment over new Personal Law Board

By Venkitesh Ramakrishnan

LUCKNOW, JAN. 30. Barely 24 hours after the formation the new Shia Muslim Personal Law Board (SMPLB), the Shia community here is in a state of ferment. Expressions of protest, including processions and statements from leaders of the community, against the Board swelled up throughout Saturday in the Shia-dominated Chowk area.

The promoters of the new Board kept a low profile but claimed that the strong reaction only showed that their initiative has upset powerful vested interests in their own community.

The protests were sparked off by a statement from Maulana Khalbe Jawwad, one of the most popular clerics in the Shia community and a member of the original All-India Muslim Personal Law Board. Maulana Jawwad branded the formation of the new Board as an exercise motivated by forces opposed to the Muslim community in general and the Shias in particular. He named the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the United States among these forces.

Talking to The Hindu, Maulana Jawwad claimed that he had proof that representatives of the U.S. administration and the BJP were in constant touch with the promoters of the new Board and that they had actively supported the formation of the SMPLB. ``The present U.S. administration is upset,'' he said, ``that Shias all over the world are opposed to their aggressive machinations, particularly in Iraq and Iran.'' On the BJP and the RSS, he said they were ready to back any exercise that would help divide the Muslim community.

Overwhelming reactions

Reactions from the lay Shia community in Lucknow were overwhelmingly in accordance with Maulana Jawwad's perception. Ali Youth Council, a local Shia organisation, held a procession and a public meeting at the Thakur Ganj area, highlighting the conspiracy angle. Munir Ali, a prominent activist of the organisation, told The Hindu that many of the advocates of the new Board, including its Chairman, Maulana Mohammed Athar, and his close relatives, had campaigned for the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Sarfraz Agha, another activist, pointed out that Maulana Athar and his associates never involved themselves in the struggles of the Shia community, including the ones to lift ban on Muharram processions. ``Maulana Athar and his associates,'' he added, ``seem to have developed a compassion for the community all of a sudden and this is amazing.''

Denies charges

Talking to The Hindu on phone Maulana Athar brushed aside the statements against him as the lament of troubled vested interests.

He said the SMPLB would continue on the path it had charted for itself and campaign forcefully for demands like representation for the community in various political and legislative bodies and creation of separate Shia Waqf Boards in all States.

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